


Oh, Rats!

by icannotevenhhh



Category: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children - Ransom Riggs
Genre: Fluff, Horace is a germaphobe probably, M/M, enoch being annoying, enoch just wants people to like his rat friend, i wrote this at school wowie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-17
Updated: 2018-10-17
Packaged: 2019-08-03 14:39:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16327925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/icannotevenhhh/pseuds/icannotevenhhh
Summary: Horace, disturbed from reading by a sudden commotion, decides to investigate.What he doesn't expect to find is a little wriggly friend in Enoch's hands.





	Oh, Rats!

"EEEEEEENOOOOOOCH!"

The little scream echoed through the house, startling Horace from his reading.

"GET IT AWAY, GET IT AWAY!"

It was Olive, he supposed. He should very well know her voice, after all; he'd been living with her for nearly sixty years. Mildly perturbed, Horace turned back to his book, soon slipping back into the flow of the story.

"Oh, come on, don't be a wuss!" Enoch laughed. "I think he likes you!"

Horace's brow twitched in annoyance, and he slid his bookmark between the pages of his novel and set it down. He couldn't stand to read with all of this noise. Brushing off his slacks, he strolled from the library and into the front parlor to face the source of the racket.

Olive had haphazardly kicked off her boots and was halfway up the wall, curled around an ornate sconce and shuddering in disgust. Enoch was below her, holding up something fuzzy and champagne-colored in his palm. He stood on his toes and moved the thing closer to Olive, who let out a little shriek in response and scurried further up the wall. 

"I _TOLD_ you to get that disgusting thing AWAY from me!"

Enoch only laughed, his shoulders shaking. The thing sitting in his palm wiggled and stood up on its hind legs, sniffing the air where Olive had been.

It was a rat. A large, pink-eyed rat.

Horace made a small noise of disgust and wrinkled his nose, marching up to Enoch. He set his hand on his hip and pulled out the silk handkerchief in his coat pocket, hitting Enoch on the arm with it. "Stop that! Can't you see you're scaring the poor girl to death?"

Enoch turned to face Horace, a wicked grin spreading across his face and showing off his dimples. He brought down his hand and offered the rat to him. "What's so scary about Mr. Whiskers?" Enoch asked innocently, cocking his head, some of his curly blond hair untucking itself from his ears. Horace stepped away, revolted.

"It's a _rat_ for Bird's sake! Anyone sensible wouldn't like it; unlike _you_."

"He's a HE, not an IT," Enoch retorted, pulling the rat close to his sweatered chest. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

"It means rats are gross and you should be ashamed!" Olive squeaked irritatedly, spidering her way out of the room. 

"Rude," Enoch grumbled, gently petting his champagne rat. "Don't listen to those jerks, Mr. Whiskers," he gently cooed. "They don't know what they're talking about."

A beat of silence passed as the rat touched Enoch's face with its little hands, sniffing him.

"...Are you talking to a rat?"

"Yeah, mate. Got a problem?"

"Several."

Enoch blew a raspberry at Horace, who blew one right back.

Enoch stared at Horace for a moment, eyes squinted slightly as he studied his face.

"...Wanna pet him?" Enoch asked, for once sounding sincere.

Horace reeled. " _BIRD _no! The wretched little thing is probably _filthy!_ "__

____

____

For a moment, Enoch's gaze fell. He then scowled, turning on his heel to clomp his way out of the room. He gently placed the rat into the front pocket of his dungarees, where it calmly poked its head out. "Don't worry, Mr. Whiskers. I'm sure _someone_ ain't afraid a'ya."

Horace felt a pang of guilt at the undertone of loneliness in Enoch's voice. After a brief moment of arguing with himself, he briskly strolled over to Enoch and stopped him just as he was about to leave.

"...Wait."

Enoch turned, raising a brow.

Horace sighed. "I'll pet the stupid rat."

Enoch perked up slightly, the grin returning to his face. "Really?"

"Yes, _really_." Horace slid the gloves from his hands and tucked them neatly into his pocket, hesitantly reaching out for the rat. "Go on, give it here. I haven't got all day."

Enoch's eyes shone as he handed Horace the animal. Almost immediately Horace shuddered, struggling to hold it still.

"Its little feet feel strange!"

Enoch only laughed, smiling brightly as Horace slowly grew accustomed to his new friend.


End file.
